Main Characters: Napoleon, Snowball, Squealer, Boxer
Minor Characters: Jones, Benjamin, Muriel, Clover, Fredrick, Pilkington, Mr. Whymper, Moses
Point of View: ( ) First Person ( ) Camera-Eye (*) Omniscient
Symbols: Green flag with hoof and horn - Green fields of England and future of the Animal republic. Moses (raven) - religion
PLOT LINE:
Introduction: Major tells animals his dream about the Rebellion and freedom for animals
Narrative Hook: Animals rebel against Jones, kick him off farm.
Rising Action: Struggle between Snowball and Napoleon for control of farm.
Climax: Animals at a debate between Snowball and Napoleon, Napoleon unleashes his dogs, they run Snowball off the farm.
Falling Action: Napoleon begins his "reign of terror," exploits other animals while telling them things are better off than when Jones was around.
Resolution: Humans praise pigs for successful exploitation of other animals, animals look into farmhouse and can't tell the difference between the pigs and the humans.
What incident begins this story? The story begins with Old Major, a large boar, telling the other animals of his dream when all animals whill be free and humans will be gone. He tells them of the Rebellion, but warns them if it happens, the animals must never accept human vices or tyrranize over the other animals. Jones neglects feeding the animals, and they rebel before realizing that was the rebellion.
What is the major conflict? The major conflic in this story is the struggle between Napoleon and Snowball for the control of the farm, in this case it would be pig versus pig.
What further events complicate this story? Further complicating the story was the threat of Jones trying to come back and retake the farm. Here all of the animals, including Snowball and Napoleon, would have to work together to keep the farm under their control.
How is the conflict resolved? The conflict is resolved when during a debate Napoleon calls the dogs he had trained and they run snowball of the farm. He then assumes leadership of the farm.
What is the setting of this story and how does it contribute to the novel as a whole? The setting of Animal Farm is on a farm somewhere in England. Had the story taken place anywhere else, it would be a little1 hard to believe (for example, animals walking and talking in New York City?).
A theme is a general statement that the author wishes to make about life. Write one sentence which states the theme of this book. The theme of Animal Farm can be explained in two words: Power corrupts.
List at least two quotes that you think are worth remembering.
"Windmill or no windmill, he [Benjamin] said, life would go on as it had always gone on -- that is, badly."
"Once again the animals were conscious of a vague uneasiness."
Comment on the author's style. George Orwell takes the concepts of Communism and capitalism and symbolizes them on a farm in England, Communism being the animal self-rule and capitalism being the human rule of the farm. He symbolizes the qualities and feelings of the people under communism in each of the farm animals, Boxer being the people who accept what they are told without a question, Mollie representing those who cannot give up their old way of life, etc. He (the author) makes it easier to understand the feelings of the people by giving just 1 or 2 qualities to each animal.
Why did you dis/like this author? Although I have not ready any other works of his, judging from this story, I like the author because he makes the story easy to understand and also fun to read (much more fun than reading a book containing the hard facts, I think).
Why did you dis/like this story? I liked this story because it was easy to follow, you couldn't get lost somewhere because there were no technical terms to have to look up and only then partially understand. This story was fun to read, and if you know your history, you can relate this story to actual events and feel how those who went through it felt.
Footnotes
1 little is used sarcastically here.